Breakdown of Der ältere Athlet ist schneller gerannt, sodass er den Marathon gewonnen hat.
sein
to be
er
he
schnell
fast, quickly
haben
to have
alt
old
gewinnen
to win
rennen
to run
der Athlet
the athlete
sodass
so that (as a result)
der Marathon
the marathon
Questions & Answers about Der ältere Athlet ist schneller gerannt, sodass er den Marathon gewonnen hat.
Why is hat at the very end of the sentence?
sodass is a subordinating conjunction, which means it kicks the conjugated verb (hat) to the end of its clause.
Could we split sodass into so and dass in this sentence?
We could, but it would change the grammar and meaning slightly. You would have to say ist so schnell gerannt, dass... (ran so fast that...) instead of ist schneller gerannt, sodass... (ran faster, so that...). Here, sodass acts as a single word meaning "with the result that".
Why does ältere end in -e here?
It is the comparative form of alt (old) used directly before a noun. Because it follows the definite article der (masculine, nominative case), it takes the weak adjective ending -e.
Why does the first half use ist instead of hat for the past tense?
The verb rennen (to run) involves active movement from one place to another. In German, verbs expressing a change of location form their past tense (Perfekt) with the helping verb sein (here as ist) instead of haben.
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